Question for Tom in CA

[Fooleeze]

So there is a property nearby with one of the oldest homes in the area. Property was sold to build a store. I've tried to get permission from owners and such, but no luck. The crews are there today tearing down the house. Do I stop by and ask the construction crew if I can clear some debris after hours?

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Fooleeze, my "bee in the bonnet" rant is always about public properties. I'm going to take a pass on commenting on questions like this one. But : Thanks for thinking of me

 

[vmc1161]

I say stop by and ask, I have from time to time with very mixed results. Almost all the time the guys there are only workers and can't say yes or no. They may help with putting you in contact with who can. Unfortunately, that person more often than not says no. I checked out a huge pile of loam last night and then realized I forgot to ask. I think that's why I only found two lousy pennies.  I should check with Tom to see if that's why.
What sense do you get when you go by?
Around here it's code to put a fence up around the property. Not all contractors do that, once that happens it's almost always a no.

 

[FreeBirdTim]

The construction crew doesn't have the authority to give you permission, so no point asking them. It's a moot point, since you'd have a really hard time finding anything after they tear down the house. Even if they're fussy and remove all the surface debris and make it nice and level for you, you'd get so many junk signals, it would drive you crazy! Nails, screws, junction boxes, wiring, pipes and so on would seriously impede your chances of finding any coins or jewelry.

 

[hoser]

From my experience it is pretty much a "no" when it involves a demo property. It boils down to personal liability. Last thing they want is someone to get hurt and a lawsuit happens.

 

[KOB]

Fooleeze, my "bee in the bonnet" rant is always about public properties. I'm going to take a pass on commenting on questions like this one. But : Thanks for thinking of me

No comment ? From the authority on permissions ? Cmon bro. We all know what you'd do. A slippery , slithering slinky under the cover of darkness. So peaceful , so serene.

 

[Jamflicker]

I would stop and ask, it never hurts. Around here a fence will go up but maybe if you go after they are done for the day you could hunt it before a fence goes up.

 

[John Madill]

If there is a curb strip give that a go.

 

[GroundSweeper]

I literally shimmied under a fence at a park where they were putting in a pickleball court a few years ago. Multiple times. Found my first Buffalos, skeleton key, play coin, old marble, old bottle, presidential token, wheats, maybe a Rosie and a merc ifs been awhile…. There were no signs on the fence. Few years later at the same park they were doing more and had “no trespassing” signs all along the fences they put up. I stayed out of those sadly.

 

[KOB]

Several years ago I called in forum member Ratfink to hunt an old park I'd been keeping an eye on just 1 mile from my house. I hunted it a couple times and found modern clad , trash. I know it's probably been hunted by many others over the decades. It's a rather small community park but very active dating back to the 1880s.

So this park was going under major renovation. Chainlink with the green fabric on it surrounded the whole park , no signs on it. You could see in but it wasn't easy. Well we both go in through a gap in the fence where it adjoins a building at around midnight. The police station is a few blocks away and several cruisers rolled by but nothing happened. There were some lights on in the park but it was fairly dark. The park had about 6-8" of dirt removed everywhere except around a walkway/fountain was about 2' removed. I did notice about 4" down in areas I found old sprinkler heads , indicating previous fills.

Bottomline is we spent about 1.5 hours there going in with big dreams. All we found were some modern clad and trash. I think Ratfink got a couple wheats and an old toy car from the 40s , maybe a war nickel. I'm thinking this very old park was hunted to death and maybe the good finds were taken out with the old dirt as they brought in all new fill. It was an adrenaline rush the whole time but the results were crap. Today it is a beautiful park.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

......All we found were some modern clad and trash.......

Bummer. Something must have been previously screwed up (fill dirt ?). Or they dug too deep. Or you only got in AFTER the surface dirt was laid back over it (to get their final gradient). As opposed to being there at the precise first uniform scrape, on an old town virgin park.

I've been in on several San Francisco park scrapes in the last 2 decades, where hundreds of silvers and thousands of wheaties turned up. One of them even gave up some reales, LC's, and even a Spanish Cob !

And (ahem ahem), it takes gonads to do these sites.

 

[KOB]

Bummer. Something must have been previously screwed up (fill dirt ?). Or they dug too deep. Or you only got in AFTER the surface dirt was laid back over it (to get their final gradient). As opposed to being there at the precise first uniform scrape, on an old town virgin park.

I've been in on several San Francisco park scrapes in the last 2 decades, where hundreds of silvers and thousands of wheaties turned up. One of them even gave up some reales, LC's, and even a Spanish Cob !

And (ahem ahem), it takes gonads to do these sites.

I was watching the entire process as I lived so close. We were there after the final scrape as they had several piles of fresh , clean fill ready to go , off to the side. And several days later , that fill was laid down. I'm not a park expert as you know. I think they dug too deep and hauled it all away. On the other hand , I found several deep , old sprinkler heads. I did not dig them out. But from my commonsense ( or lack thereof) this park should have been loaded with silver dating back at least 100+ years.

 

[chillforlife]

Why would you not stop and ask. Worst they can say is no.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Why would you not stop and ask. Worst they can say is no.

You just answered your own question

 

[bottlecap4u]

Sure, pirate-up and raid that hovel. if the workers say yes and the owner has already said no....'shiver me timbers' you're sailing awfully close to the shoals mate and liable to wreck with a trespass citation as your only find. I'd sail on to permissions only and from owners in authority to make them.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Sure, pirate-up and raid that hovel. if the workers say yes and the owner has already said no....'shiver me timbers' you're sailing awfully close to the shoals mate and liable to wreck with a trespass citation as your only find. I'd sail on to permissions only and from owners in authority to make them.

I consider the little girl, playing on the swing set in the park, to be an adequate authority source. Don't you ?

 

[vmc1161]

I consider the little girl, playing on the swing set in the park, to be an adequate authority source. Don't you ?

When I was a young man and a refrigeration mechanic, we would do barrooms and restaurants. At the barrooms the guys working there a lot of times would not sign the service slips. So we would ask one of the old drunks to sign for the work done. Sometimes you have to do what you have to do to get things done.

P/s I don’t think they can be called old drunks anymore. Maybe senior lushes or advanced Patrons

 

[too_pointer]

Thanks, I have surgery this Thursday. So will be thanks for my stuff going today. Thanks all for this

too_

 

[Fooleeze]

Well, an update. I stopped by about 3:45 in the afternoon, there was one guy working a backhoe finishing up some work. I politely apologized for bothering him and asked if he minded if I scanned the area after he was cleared out. He said, "Well, I don't own the property, but there are no signs, and nobody is going to care if you're here, so I don't have a problem with it. I finish at 4, so come after that, and wear boots (nails)" (Good enough for me). He also said his buddy detected this and a few other properties with no luck.

Now the property is a pretty large one, a few acres (many more acres of farm field, too). And the house and barn only covered a portion of it. So I was hopeful.

But all hopes were dashed. I spent about 90 minutes moving around the property into the little yards / fields around the house and behind it. I found absolutely nothing. Not a single coin or relic. And his buddy didn't leave a lot of dig-holes, so he didn't dig much either. Must have been cleaned out years ago. Now if I had many hours to spend there, I'm sure I could have found SOMETHING old. . . but there wasn't enough to keep me going back.

But, it didn't hurt to ask, gave me the 'permission' I needed to give it a try, and glad I did. Because if I didn't, I would have been complaining for years that I missed out on all of the coolest old coins and relics I could have imagined. Didn't need that weighing on my conscience.

 

[Coin-Saver]

When I was a young man and a refrigeration mechanic, we would do barrooms and restaurants. At the barrooms the guys working there a lot of times would not sign the service slips. So we would ask one of the old drunks to sign for the work done. Sometimes you have to do what you have to do to get things done.

P/s I don’t think they can be called old drunks anymore. Maybe senior lushes or advanced Patrons

That ^^^^^ is called adapting and overcoming a situation. If I seen they were moving dirt in an area that looked appealing, I'd ask whoever was there whether they had the authority or not. If they say you can then 99% of the time the worst that will happen is nothing. The other 1% it goes like this .......Someone will question it and you'll say that guy told me I could. They will reply with well THEY don't have the authority to give permission. You will say Oh REALLY. I certainly was not aware of that. He spoke as if this was his project and since HE was moving the dirt I assumed he was in charge. I am truly sorry had I known I never would have detected here. .......They will at this point get that instant POWER SURGE as though they are the President....... They will feel as though they just cured cancer and YOU Will walk away with whatever you have dug. (Not that I have any experience in this)

By the time anyone has figured anything out your ass will be long gone and counting silver and they will still be trying to figure out who you were. And remember No one....and I mean NO ONE will be looking at the license plate number of your car after that power surge has hit so pour it on thick (if you know what I mean).

By the way....Just in case anyone is wondering.....This also works 99% of the time even if you didn't ask the first guy.......The second guy is the only one you have to learn how to handle. I say 99% of the time because usually the 1% of the time I am referring to involves the second guy wearing a badge......But the good news is if you're really crafty you can get away with that 50% of the time. (Again, NOT that I have any experience with this) This really is a game of percentages.